LEGISLATION CONCERNING MAMMALS l6/ 



The United States leads the world in the bulk of its legislation con- 

 cerning mammals, a fact not altogether to our credit, but to some 

 extent unavoidable. This is partly because there are forty-eight separate 

 states each having distinct jurisdiction over its own mammals, each 

 making its own laws and each changing its laws at almost every legis- 

 lative session. One reason for the constantly changing laws and lack of 

 uniformity in various states is that the legislators and in some cases the 

 game commissioners have very little technical knowledge of natural 

 history, no training or experience in the rigid investigation of its dif- 

 ficulties, and are disposed to seek the advice of hunters whose knowl- 

 edge is rather haphazard, instead of consulting experts whose lives are 

 devoted to the investigation of the habits of animals and their intricate 

 economic relations. Add to this the fact that there is much yet to be 

 discovered even by the naturalists, and one may understand why much 

 of the legislation is not based upon sound principles or adequate knowl- 

 edge. However, the laws are on the whole constantly being improved. 



If we could be sure that only persons of high personal character 

 and ability and accurate knowledge of nature would be appointed, a 

 permanent commission having jurisdiction over all wild life, its powers 

 defined in very general terms, leaving it with great latitude in making 

 regulations, would bring very much better results than the present 

 system. Conditions affecting wild life often change rapidly, so that 

 laws perfectly proper today may be quite improper a year hence. For- 

 tunately some states now have fish and game commissions fully worthy 

 of the name, directed by men who are competent and who have sur- 

 rounded themselves with advisers and investigators expert in their vari- 

 ous lines of work, and the results of their investigations and sugges- 

 tions are. being felt in other states. 



The whole subject of legislation relating to wild animals is very 

 difficult much more so than the average legislator with little knowl- 

 edge of nature as a whole can possibly comprehend because nature 

 itself is highly complex, as we have seen in various preceding chap- 

 ters. To obtain ultimately the wisest laws three ideas must at all times 

 be kept prominently in the foreground: (i) Any disturbance of the 

 status of one species, by its increase or decrease in numbers, its de- 

 struction, its introduction into a new region, the introduction of an- 

 other species that becomes an enemy or a competitor for food or 

 shelter, or any change in the environment, inevitably affects other 

 species either to their advantage or disadvantage, sometimes with far- 



